They Grow Up So Fast Part I

Quinn after eating dinner.

Smiling for the camera. I can't believe she is already two years old.

Kai smiling for the camera.

Kai doing.....whatever it is he is doing in this photo.

They Grow Up So Fast Part II

Claire checking out the ExerSaucer.

Trying a little bite of mashed sweet potatoes.

She approves!

Big time!

Let it Snow!

This week it snowed a little bit and I decided to take the kids outside to see it. Kai saw snow once before when we came home to visit from Bahrain, but Quinn has never actually played in snow before. They loved it, even though it was very cold outside.

Kai checking out the snow.

Quinn--totally excited about the snow!

The kids were really intrigued by the fact that you can leave your footprints in the snow and make shapes, too. Kai kept asking me to draw different shapes in the snow.

Kai's Birthday Party

We decided that the weekend of Thanksgiving would be a good time to celebrate Kai's 4th birthday, since everybody would be gathered together at the Cherri Orchard. My mother got Kai a "bling bling" kit, complete with a necklace of bling and fake gold teeth. Here is Kai showing them off. He really liked these things, much to my chagrin.

Kai with his beautiful little cousin, Dolce. They were awaiting the cake at this point.

Kai informing us that this was "Edward's coal car!" Grame Cherri made this lovely little cake.

Shawn trying to help Kai understand how this toy works.

The Day I've Been Dreading Is Here

Today at naptime, Quinn figured out she can climb out of her crib for the first time. It's all over now.

Kai's 4th Birthday

Some dear friends of ours had extra tickets to the Shriner's Circus in Kansas City last Saturday, so we decided to take Kai for his birthday. Yes, it's true--he turned FOUR on Saturday! I can't believe it!

Anyway, we went to the circus and the kids did really well. Kai was very interested in all the acts. We saw some really cool things. I had never been to a real circus before, so it was very neat to me. It made me feel very child-like and dazzled. There were all the standard acts; dancing poodles, tight-rope walkers, trapeze artists and other fun and exciting things. Because Shawn and the husband of the family we went with had to both work that evening, we ended up staying only until intermission. Even still, we got to see so many exciting things.

Quinn wasn't quite as impressed. Or maybe she was just tired, because she fell asleep about halfway through. We couldn't believe she could sleep through all that noise, but she did.

Kai giving me a smile on his fourth birthday.

I'm really not sure what he was doing here.

My Girls

Latest pictures of the girls. Here's Claire lifting her head and looking around.

A little bit of a smile. It's so hard to get a good smile picture because my camera has a short delay, during which the smiles usually evaporate.

Quinn on the stairs.

A smile picture from her, too!

Taking Inventory

November 4th was my 27th birthday.

It brought about a lot of introspection, but also some wonderful realizations about my life. In my 27 short years, I've done a lot of living. And fortunately, most of the living I have done, I have done well. I have few regrets and have made many friends. I have seen and experienced incredible things.

I have to admit that when I woke up on my birthday, I was bummed out, questioning what I have "accomplished" in my time here. I haven't made much money. I haven't had an impressive career in anything. I have failed at many, many things....including organic chemistry. I've failed at love. I've made mistakes. SO many mistakes.

But I've experienced joy. True joy that only God can give. I haven't made much money, but I have been rich beyond measure. God has shown me many miracles in my life--miracles within the world, within His plans, within other people and within myself. He has helped me through so many things in my life.

I graduated college debt-free (one major miracle!) thanks to the love and support of God, my family and having the opportunity to work throughout school. God has blessed me with three amazing little children to tend to. How amazing is it that God trusts me enough to take care of these babies? He has given me a husband who I love and respect in a way that I didn't think I'd ever be capable. God has worked in me to touch so many people's lives. That's what I think it all boils down to for me. I think I was never meant to be a star. I was never meant to be a bigshot. But God is using me (amazingly!) to love a little at a time. I feel so blessed to have the friends and family I have. I feel blessed that God can even use ME to bless others as well.

Here's to the next 27 years! Thank you, Lord, for the first 27.

Fall Nights

Our three jack-o'-lanterns. The one on left was one I carved with Kai's direction on what I should do. The middle one is mine and the one on the end is Shawn's.

For Halloween, we had dinner with some friends and their kids, then tagged along as they trick-or-treated through their neighborhood. Kai was Spiderman, Quinn was Lady from Lady and the Tramp and Claire was a chicken. Unfortunately, my battery on my camera was low and I did not get any pictures in all the hustle and bustle.

Claire was a little cranky during trick-or-treating; Quinn didn't really have a clue what was going on, but she still seemed to enjoy herself thoroughly. Kai, on the other hand, got the trick-or-treating thing down after the first house. He reminded me so much of my brother, Henry. When we were kids, Henry was super-serious and motivated about trick-or-treating. He thought seriously about trick-or-treating strategy in order to maximize candy acquisition. Kai strategized to rachet up his adorable-ness factor to get more candy. It worked. We took all three kids around a couple streets, then went home.

After we got home and put the girls to bed, Kai and I went to a few houses in our neighborhood. It brought back so many fun memories I have of Halloween from when I was growing up. It was probably my second favorite holiday throughout the years. We bought lots of candy, but surprisingly only had two trick-or-treaters the whole night. I don't know if it is because we live on a busy street or what, but I was disappointed. Too bad we now have soooo much candy left....sigh....life is tough.

The following pictures are not from trick-or-treating, but from a few nights ago when we let the kids play in the leaf pile as it was getting dark.

Quinn in some super cute overalls.

Kai and Quinn enjoying the leaf pile.

Even Shawn gets in on the fun! The kids loved that! Fortunately, there are no pictures of when Mommy jumped in the pile.

...and Fall Days

Kai and Quinn enjoying the leaf pile.

Kai getting leaves raked onto his head.

Quinn playing in the leaves.

Quinn throwing leaves on the pile.

Peace, Be Still

My dear in-laws took Kai and Quinn for the weekend so that I could attend a conference on Friday. It was nice to have a weekend with a little bit more downtime than usual. I got to nap for the first time in a long time! It was pretty awesome. Plus, I got to spend a little bit of time with Shawn.

Friday was a very interesting day. I went to a conference in Kansas City that was about birth trauma. It was focused a lot more on the psychological trauma babies can experience during/after the birth process than I was expecting it to be. I was hoping the speaker would spend more time on counseling women who have had traumatic birth experiences since that is an area of particular interest to me. Regardless, though, the speaker was very interesting and it definitely gave me food for thought.

I got to talk during breaks with some of the other ladies there--mainly doulas, midwives and childbirth educators. It was so fascinating to hear their stories and ideas about birth. Obviously, it was wonderful to be in a room full of women who share my same enthusiasm for birth and childbirth education.

Claire went with me and was very interested in the subject matter, as well. She kept cooing pretty much the entire day (while the guy was talking--fortunately, my baby wasn't the only one there making noise) and did not sleep much. It was a little stressful and frustrating at times because she got bored and started crying, making it necessary for me to leave and wait until she was done in the lobby. This happened a few times, but other than that, she was pretty good.

The conference made me think a lot about my own present situation. On the drive home, I started feeling a little bewildered. I am very educated about birth. I have a deep passion for it and love learning about it. But listening to the women at the conference, as well as the speaker made me start to have doubts and questions about my abilities to actually teach this stuff. I'm planning on teaching my first series of prepared childbirth classes in January (after all the holidays are over) and I'm starting to get a little bit nervous. I felt like I was in over my head.

Additionally, after Claire's birth, I have felt a bit perplexed about my own philosophy of birth. I have been re-evaluating my feelings and thoughts, as well as processing Claire's birth experience. It was a wonderful birth, but there were things about it that were not what I was expecting. There are even parts of it that disappointed me. I think God is using my experience with Claire's birth to teach me some things and to help me refine what I believe about birth. It is a much more challenging process than I expected, though.

Shawn had a lot of really encouraging things to say to me that evening when I told him how I was feeling. After talking through things with him, I felt much better about everything. I know that everything will work out for the best, but that I will be continually learning along the way.

The picture at the beginning of the post is a rainbow that I saw on my way home from the conference Friday. It is not the greatest picture because I took it while I was driving (I know, dangerous!). It was such a beautiful and vivid rainbow--of course the photo does not do it justice.

More Adventures in Motherhood

I was chilly last night, so I actually slept with socks on.

Claire is sleeping in a play yard next to our bed, so when she wants to nurse at night, I get up and bring her into our bed, then put her back in the play yard.

When I woke up early this morning to get ready for a conference in Kansas City, I noticed that I had lost my socks during the night. I figured they just got lost somewhere under the sheets and didn't think anything more about it.

After I got myself ready, I woke up Claire and started to get her ready. It was then that I noticed she was wearing one of my socks! I have no recollection of putting it on her foot, but obviously I must have. I can't imagine what my frame of mind must have been...........

Sigh......I think I'm too sleep deprived or something.

We're All Gonna Die

Am I going crazy? Does it not seem like no matter what we do, wear, eat, drink, take--we're all dying at a rapid rate. It seems like every day I read an article saying some researcher has discovered how ordinary things in life are now incredibly bad for us and will kill us.

Dairy products contain so many synthetic hormones and antibiotics that they can cause cancers and other health issues. So we can drink soy milk. Wait, what's that? Soy milk has phytoestrogens that can cause other health issues?

Clean everything with antibacterial soaps, wipes, creams and cleansers, quick! We don't want to get a single germ! Wait, what's that? Our fanatic antibacterial-izing has contributed to the strength of our newest, latest, greatest mega-viruses and bacteria, not to mention made our immune systems less able to handle the bugs? People are dying from MRSA.

God forbid we even expose an inch of our skin to the sun! We should all slather ourselves in sunblock and avoid the sun like the plague. Otherwise, we'll all get skin cancer that will kill us. But then we'll have to live with the vitamin D deficiencies and rickets. Small price to pay, I guess.

If you get your kids vaccinated, you are exposing them to unnatural and toxic substances and that could cause them to develop autism, allergies or other disorders. But if you don't, they will all get chicken pox or the measles and have encephalitis, which will cause them to have other serious problems or die. Not to mention the fact that they will all grow up guilt riddled because of all the vaccinated children they infected with their germs. (Somebody please explain that one to me!)

If we don't eat a very specific and complete organic diet--some will tell us we are going to die. Have a craving for some KFC? Don't--the MSG will kill you. It's so important to eat the "right" things. It's so important to take the "right" vitamins. In another year or so, the "right" foods and vitamins will turn out to be bad for us, too.

The parabens in your hand lotion will probably kill you. Ditto on your lipstick. It might be best to just never bathe or use cosmetics at all.

Our tap water is contaminated. Buy a carbon filter. Wait, just read those can be harmful, too. Okay, so buy bottled water, but make sure the bottle is BPA free and the source is not some random municipal water supply (as is often the case with bottled water). Scratch that--just don't drink the water at all. It will kill you.

Have you spent your life ingesting and absorbing toxic chemicals and the "wrong" foods (as well as not having organic cotton sheets)? Are you sick now with cancer, autoimmune diseases or chronic allergies? Well, I hate to break it to you but you can't take any medications for it--they will kill you, too.

How are we all surviving, if this is all true? No matter what we do, it seems we are all hastening our own deaths. I, for one, am sick of all the fear surrounding just LIVING. How can we actually LIVE our lives if we are constantly fixated on all that can cause DEATH or harm us? The truth is that we will all die, no matter what we do.

Ugh, just thinking about all of this gives me a headache. I would take some Aleve, but it will probably kill me after trashing my kidneys, liver and stomach. Not to mention the fact that I can't wash it down with a full glass of water per the instructions because the water is contaminated.

Safety Fair

Yesterday, there was a Safety Fair type thing at a nearby home improvement store. They had several activities going and Shawn and his co-workers were there handing out safety literature and other fun items. There was a petting zoo with cute little animals that we took the kids to. Here is Kai feeding the baby kangaroo.

Quinn looking on at the animals.

I gave some animal feed to Quinn to give to the animals, but she didn't quite get the whole feeding thing and ended up eating the animal feed herself. My guess is she thought it was some sort of funky granola.

Quinn's face after eating the animal feed. Johnny, one of Shawn's co-workers, said she would have a nice, shiny coat tomorrow.

Safety Fair 2

Kai feeding some sort of cow-like animal at the petting zoo.

Shawn and Kai feeding the baby camel and baby zebra at the petting zoo.

Kai getting ready to feed some goats at the petting zoo.

A miniature bison at the petting zoo.